Dear Friends, As I write this today, 30 men remain imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay detention center. All Muslim, 19 of the men have never been charged with a crime, and 16 of them have been cleared for transfer. Many of these men are also survivors of torture. This egregious abuse of human rights is why, on the first Wednesday of every month, NRCAT joins partners in co-hosting Close Guantánamo vigils in D.C. and cities around the world. NRCAT partner organizations like Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace in Los Angeles organize a vigil each year on January 11 to mark the day the U.S. opened the detention camp in 2002. A contribution to NRCAT today, during Torture Awareness Month, will help sustain these monthly vigils and other on-going public witness and advocacy for closing Guantánamo once and for all. During coffee hour at my local church recently, two members said they had listened to the latest season of the podcast Serial and couldn’t believe that the prison is still open. Serial season 4 is titled “Guantánamo,” and features interviews with former guards and interrogators, men formerly detained at Guantánamo, lawyers, chaplains, and family members of individuals who were killed on September 11th. Yes, as I told the church members, unfortunately it is still open and continues to both serve as a symbol of U.S. torture and a stain on the credibility of U.S. human rights work around the world. Help share the message that it must close - consider hosting a vigil in your community! With just three people, you can hold a banner, snap a picture, and share your commitment to close Guantánamo with a local newspaper and on social media. NRCAT has a litany and prayers, as well as background information on the issue, on our website. Contact me at [email protected] if you would like us to send you a "Close Guantanamo" banner, at no charge. Your donation to NRCAT helps us share our “Close Guantánamo” message through monthly vigils, legislative action alerts, national webinars and educational events, and key meetings with officials in the U.N., the U.S. State and Defense Departments, and with members of Congress. Thank you for your ongoing support, Rev. T.C. Morrow
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